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View Full Version : What general strategy do you people use in the 1 table SNGs?


Wheezl
07-10-2004, 02:56 AM
Im new to this area of the forum, so Im sure this has been previously discussed...

My general thoughts on the subject are to play very tightly at first and only risk major amounts of chips while the blinds are "small" on relatively certain situations. Usually my experience is that there are at least 3-5 idiots who will gamble it up real early, and if you are fortunate enough to get the cards agaisnt them it works out great.

Once the blinds get up to like 100-200 I begin to play very aggressively and steal many blinds/pots. This seems to work well because if I havent been getting many cards players tend to respect the fact that Im betting all in all of the sudden. I think there are a large percentage of players who play too loosely early (obviously), but I also think there are a great deal of tight players who fail to properly adjust to the SKYROCKETING size of the blinds compared to stack sizes. Most of the time the loosies bust out early or get a large stack and make it, and many of the tighties survive to the end but get blinded away. I feel like a large number of these players simply do not adjust their play to fit the rapidly escalating structure of the tournament. Anyway I have literally stolen MANY of these tourneys, and was wondering if others follow a similar gear changing strategy.

AtlBrvs4Life
07-10-2004, 03:29 AM
That sounds good. I also try to get 1st, 2nd, or 3rd more than the other places.

Jurollo
07-10-2004, 04:03 AM
You too? I like getting the 1sts.. but I def try to get 2nds and 3rds more than say 10ths, I am glad to know I am not the only one! /images/graemlins/grin.gif We might be on to something here, want to write a book with me?

dfscott
07-10-2004, 11:36 AM
I'm one of those "tighties" the you refer to. I play very tightly early, and then loosen up when I get down to 10BB. However, I think I don't loosen up enough because I'm often forced all in with junk hands.

Once I get to 10BB, I have to have pairs bigger than 77, AK, AKs, AQ, or AQs to play. In LP, I'll also add AJs, KQs, KJs, KQ, AJ, KTs, QTs, JTs.

I loosen up a bit more if I'm the short stack (which is frequent). In that case, I'll play any pair (although I have trouble playing them if I get called and miss the flop) and ATo or better.

Is this still too tight? I'm finishing a lot in 5-6 place, so that's why I'm wondering.

Wheezl
07-10-2004, 08:05 PM
well im certainly no expert on the matter, but I think you are exactly what im referring to. The blinds seem to escalate so rapidly that if you wait for hands towards the end you will be eaten alive, and when you finally do get one you might "double up" from say 400 to 800 in chips while the blinds are costing 600 a round. Think of all the times you slide all in with KK and dont get called late in those things. Try it with 78 suited everyonce in a while and see what happens. They usually all fold. Just try to steal more in blinds than you pay. And many times you will get called by AK or whatever and still win.

ScottTheFish
07-10-2004, 09:14 PM
[ QUOTE ]

Once I get to 10BB, I have to have pairs bigger than 77, AK, AKs, AQ, or AQs to play. In LP, I'll also add AJs, KQs, KJs, KQ, AJ, KTs, QTs, JTs.


[/ QUOTE ]

Yikes. I agree with Weezl if you wait for those hands with 10BB the blinds will eat you up more often than not. You HAVE to be willing to steal the blinds when they get big with some medium hands like any pair, T9s, KTo, QTo, Axo, Axs, stuff like that, especially if you're short stacked.

Can't wait til you have 300 left to double up. Blind stealing is a critical skill in SNGs. And it's "stealing"...that means you dont necessarily have a good hand when you do it. The blind structure in these things FORCES you to be aggressive in the later stages.

Don't be afraid to push all in with some marginal hands when it's down to 4 or 5 either. Remember it will be very hard for them to call you at this stage without a premium hand.

Play to win, dont play to try to squeak into 3rd.